Syria, Hezbollah forces kill Nusra Front commander

Syrian government troops backed by Hezbollah resistance forces have ambushed a convoy belonging to the al-Qaeda-backed al-Nusra Front terrorist group, killing the commander believed responsible for kidnapping of Syrian Christian nuns in 2013.

The convoy was headed by Malek al-Tall, an al-Nusra Front commander, who was killed in the ambush in Syria’s Qalamoun, a mountainous region bordering Lebanon, The Daily Star reported Wednesday citing a Lebanese security source.

Al-Tall was allegedly responsible for the abduction of thirteen nuns last year, when the radical terrorist group took over the historic Christian town of Maaloula, located on the edge of the rugged Qalamoun region about 60 kilometers northeast of the capital.

Head of Lebanon's General Security Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim played a vital role in the release of the nuns, who were freed in May in exchange for dozens of female detainees in Syrian prisons.

The Persian Gulf State of Qatar and the Syrian government also played a part in their release.

Hezbollah fighters and Syrian troops had launched an offensive earlier this year to root out foreign-backed insurgent groups from the Qalamoun region, a strategic area for opposition groups that was used to smuggle gunmen and weapons into Syria to flare up the insurgency war against the Damascus government.